Saturday, September 5th, 2020
My Dear America:
It is Saturday, September 5th and it is Labor Day Weekend. My wife and I just had a Zoom Training Session with a young man named Jay who is working with the Biden- Harris Campaign. Jay strikes me as being highly motivated and Competent. It will be good to work with him as we all struggle to get Joe Biden and Kamala Harris elected on November 3rd of this year.
This has been a hellish year with One Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Americans dead from the Coronavirus, or in Donald Trumpspeak, the China Virus. I guess Trump thinks that if we all think of it as the China Virus that somehow that will clear him of responsibility for failing to act in a responsible way that might have ended up killing the virus instead of the virus ending up killing a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand American Souls.
At this point in time it is incomprehensible to me that Donald Trump could gather even five percent of voters polled nationwide let alone over 40 percent of Americans. But once again like a dangerous snake Trump continues to crawl up in the polls as his efforts to suppress the vote intensify. What in the world is wrong with so many Americans willing to not only tolerate Donald Trump's behavior, but actually to support it.
Many decades ago Walter Cronkite used to narrate a black and white television program called "You Are There" on CBS. The program featured staged recreations of historical events with Walter and other correspondents interviewing participants in the historical happenings. At the end of each program Walter used to say something like "What you have seen will Alter and Illuminate our Time and You Are There."
What we Americans are seeing every day of our lives in the time of Donald Trump is certainly Altering and Illuminating our lives, and as much as sometimes we don't want to be there to see what Donald Trump is doing to us and to our Country We Are There, whether we like it or not.
After the Coronavirus Superspreader Event on the White House Lawn that ended the last night of the Republican Convention it almost seemed as though nothing could have topped the insanity of that monstrously insensitive move. Once again, however, we were wrong. Donald Trump had more in store for us and this week we found out what it was.
Before August 23rd, 2020 almost none of us knew the name Jacob Blake. But once again someone with the capability of taking a video took a very shocking one in Kenosha, Wisconsin featuring a young man by the name of Jacob Blake.
The details of the incident involving the shooting of Jacob Blake are sketchy, at best. Witnesses of the event do not seem to be in agreement on all of the details of what happened. What is known is that the Kenosha police department was called to an incident of what was described as a domestic disturbance. Apparently they were notified by Jacob Blake's girlfriend that Blake was defying a Protection From Abuse order of Protection by coming to her home and was trying to steal her car. Some witnesses to the incident state that when the police arrived Jacob Blake was trying to break up a fight between two women on the sidewalk. Police tried to grab Jacob Blake and when he resisted he was tasered. Some witnesses said Blake wrestled with police and when he broke free he walked around a vehicle and attempted to get in. Police surrounded him and one of the officers standing behind him shot him several times. The police officers gun shot Blake either 7 or 8 times from behind, although reports are that only 4 shots hit Blake. Those four shots did a lot of damage but they did not kill Blake. He continues at this time to be hospitalized and most of his small intestines have been removed. One bullet smashed through his spinal column and reports are that doctors do not see much hope that Blake will ever walk again.
As has been the situation in other cities around the country this disturbing incident set off protests in Kenosha some of which got out of hand and resulted in some buildings being burned. Immediate reactions from Blake's family differed depending on who was speaking. Jacob's father was outraged and angry. His mother prayed, not only for her son but for the police officer who shot him. She also prayed for the community and advised the community that her son asked for the community to respect him and each other and stop the violence.
The reaction of the President of the United States was, not surprisingly, divisive and disturbing. His only reaction to the Kensoha shooting was to back the police and never did he express any remorse for the shooting of Jacob Blake. Apparently, in reaction to Trump's insensitivity regarding the shooting of Jacob Blake a number of "Second Amendment People" began to show up in Kenosha fully armed and ready for battle with protesters. One of those Armed gunmen was not even a man. He was a teenager named Kyle Rittenhouse, who walked through the streets of Kenosha shooting people, two of whom died.
Donald Trump could have called on his followers not to follow in the footsteps of Kyle Rittenhouse and ruin their lives, as Kyle has ruined his, as well as the lives of others. He didn't do that, however. Trump clearly failed to condemn the teenagers actions and presented what Rittenhouse did as a matter of self defense. Certainly Rittenhouse would not have been in a position of needing to defend himself if he had stayed home and didn't come to Kenosha with a long rifle and a displaced allegiance to Donald Trump.
This past week we saw two reactions by the 2020 Presidential Candidates who both went to Kenosha with two separate reasons to go to this Wisconsin city.
Donald Trump went to Kenosha despite the fact that the Mayor of Kenosha and the Governor of Wisconsin requested that he should not come. Clearly they were obviously worried that Trump would come to Kenosha with the intention of fanning the flames of hate rather than trying to tamp down the violence. He did come to Kenosha and stayed away from the Kenosha government figures, or rather they stayed away from him. Trump found some business figures and members of the police department who met with him. It is hard to see why he came, what he got out of this visit or what the city of Kenosha got out of his visit.
Also this past week Joe Biden also visited Kenosha. His visit was extremely different than that of Trump. Biden met with Community Leaders and he also met with members of Jacob Blake's family. He even had a conversation with Jacob Blake on the phone. Biden took the opportunity during his visit to call out Racism and Violence in the streets.
The reactions of and the reactions to both Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Kenosha, Wisconsin are contrasts that are stark and stunning and are lessons that should be paid attention to by all Americans prior to the November Presidential Election.
Sincerely Yours
Jerry Gallagher
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